Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Oingeebeead Cakes
yield 100 cakesIngredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Combine three pounds of flour, one pound of sugar, one pound of butter rubbed into the flour, two ounces of ginger beaten fine, and a large nutmeg grated.
Warm together a pound of treacle and a quarter of a pint of cream.
Mix the cake well together.
Shape and bake
Roll the mixture out into thin cakes, or roll them round like nuts.
Bake on tin plates.
Yield 100 cakes.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Ginger | 1 tsp grated fresh (2g) | 2 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the cakes tender and rich in texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown as they bake.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark colour to the cakes.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, softening the dough.
- Ginger
- Adds a warm, spicy aroma and flavour.
The step that matters
Mix the cake well together. Once flour is combined with liquid, its gluten begins to form, so overworking the mixture can make the cakes tough and dense. Mix until evenly combined, then stop.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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